Four months after James Durbin punctuated his wild ride on "American Idol" with a memorable live concert on the beach, another remarkably talented Santa Cruz young man is poised to launch a TV-fueled ride to stardom.

Chris Rene, 28, appeared at the end of the debut of Fox's "The X Factor" Wednesday and, for his audition, performed a midtempo R&B/rap song he had written called "Young Homey." As the song faded, the audience gave him a standing ovation, and the show's four judges unanimously voted him onto the show.

"It's always my favorite feeling in the world when I sit in this chair and I meet a star for the first time," said judge Simon Cowell to Rene.

Cowell, the famously acerbic former "Idol" judge, left the top-rated show to establish "The X Factor."

"You are the Truth," said fellow judge L.A. Reid.

"I can't even describe your talent," said another of the show's judges, Nicole Scherzinger.

Rene told the judges and the live audience that he had been struggling with addiction to alcohol, cocaine and methamphetamines since he was a teenager and he had just emerged from rehab.

"I have this disease called addiction," said Rene, who added he'd been clean and sober for 70 days.

His song, an uplifting ode to hope and faith, was clearly autobiographical. One of its lines was: "It's been two months now, I haven't had a drink, and I'm startin' to see clear now."

Rene came to the audition with his brother Mike. Rene's introduction touched lightly on his Santa Cruz birth family, but it didn't mention the family's strong connection to music.

Rene's sister, for instance, is Gina Rene, an accomplished soul/hip-hop singer in her own right from San Francisco who contributed to the soundtrack of the Hollywood film "Mean Girls." Gina has recorded as a solo artist, but also serves as the vocalist in the electronica soul band Soulstice, founded by a third Rene brother, Gabriel.

According to Gina Rene's official bio, the Rene siblings are the children of the late Googie Rene, a soul/jazz singer and songwriter who led the Googie Rene Combo ("Wham Bam") in the 1950s and '60s and recorded on the Class label, which was established by Googie's father - and the Rene siblings' grandfather - Leon Rene.

Leon Rene was a prolific songwriter of the 1950s, who wrote, among other things, "Rockin' Robin" and "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus."